• Is Canada any good? Yes, though they’ve had some struggles this season. In the first five tournaments this season Canada has only managed to make the quarterfinals once, but they’ve missed out three times by losing a game by just a single score.

In rugby sevens, the average contest has just over five tries per game. The winner is often the team with the final possession of the ball. The Canadians prefer a strong ball-control style, working to keep other teams on defence and without the ball as much as anything.

Canada goes through their paces at BC Place this week.

• Who are the guys to know on Canada? Canada’s captain Nathan Hirayama, born and raised in Richmond, is already one of the all-time greats of rugby sevens. He’s fourth all-time in scoring, having passed the 1,600-point barrier last weekend in Las Vegas. He’s also fourth in scoring this season.

Harry Jones is another veteran. He’s from West Vancouver and just returned from shoulder surgery. On the wing, North Vancouver’s Adam Zaruba spent the past two seasons trying to make it in the National Football League but this winter returned to his favourite game. He’s a giant and he’s fast.

Connor Braid is the team’s main ball carrier and has a fine set of hands, too. (Abbotsford’s Justin Douglas is one of the sport’s best try scorers, but he’s been sidelined with a concussion.)

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• What’s the deal with Canada’s schedule? The Canadians’ most crucial game is actually their first against Samoa. The Samoans narrowly beat Canada in Las Vegas but then powered through to the final, losing to the Americans. Still, how battered are they from that run?

Word has it the downtown hotel they’re staying at has seen an illness passed around between the handful of teams staying there. Will that bug sap their strength?

Game 2 for Canada is against Fiji at 2:08 p.m. The Fijians are heavy favourites, but they slumped last weekend in Las Vegas to sixth place and are dealing with some injury challenges. But still, this is Fiji. They’re the 2016 gold medallists.

Canada’s final pool game is against Kenya at 5:40 p.m. The Kenyans won plenty of fans in their exciting run to the Canada Sevens final last year — they lost to Fiji.

The big story for the East Africans is the massive turnover in their squad, mostly driven by a pay dispute between the players and the Kenyan Rugby Union. The stars of recent seasons are gone, leaving behind a squad of new faces.

Rugby fans dressed as RCMP members give high fives after team Canada scored a try during the World Rugby Seven Series match against Australia at B.C. Place on Saturday, March, 10, 2018.

• Do I have to dress up? Nope. But there’s no doubt that dressing up in “fancy dress” (as rugby sevens fans like to call it) is a big part of the event.

Think of it as Halloween in March. The past three editions of the Canada Sevens have seen groups of fans dressed as Lego men, crusaders, sheep, unicorns, loggers, Mounties, superheroes, Ninja Turtles, famous paintings, moose, bears, hippies, assorted fruits … you get the picture.

• What’s at stake? Standings points — and this year, a spot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. You win the tournament, you get 22 points. Runner-up receives 19, third place 17. Finish in one of the bottom two spots, you get a single point.

The top four teams in the standings at the end of the season — the final tournament is in Paris in June — will automatically advance to the men’s rugby sevens competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Kenya and Fiji played in the final of the 2018 Canada Sevens.

• Who is playing? Sixteen teams from around the globe. Fifteen are regular “core” teams: Canada, U.S., England, Wales, Scotland, France, Spain, Argentina, South Africa, Kenya, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and Japan. The latter 14 retained their spot based on their finishes in the 2017-18 season. Japan won a qualifying tournament last spring in Hong Kong.

The 16th team this weekend is Chile, winners of a South American qualifying series in January.

• Where to watch? If you can’t make it to B.C. Place, CBC Sports is streaming the entire tournament on its website and on its app.

• What’s this sevens series? The Canada Sevens are the sixth stop on the 10-stop HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. The season kicked off in early December in Dubai, then played a week later in Cape Town, South Africa. The third tournament of the season was in Hamilton, New Zealand, in January, followed a week later by the event in Sydney, Australia.

Team Canada’s Ghislaine Landry, (centre), talks with teammates after losing to Team New Zealand 17-7 during cup final action at the HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens at Westhills Stadium in Langford, B.C., on Sunday, May 28, 2017.

• Why aren’t there women’s teams? The Canada Women’s Sevens are played in Langford in May and are part of World Rugby’s women’s world series. The Langford tournament has been a consistent sellout and is in nearly unique company on the women’s series.

There has been a push to have the two events amalgamate, but local organizers don’t want to break up two good things.